Marion Guvijak from France, who has been living for nine years in Banja Luka, found her dream job in this city, as well as her love and home.

“I came to this region with my friends for the first time, and I liked nature, as well as people. I decided to stay here because I found the job for which I was educated. I worked at the French Institute at first, and then at the University,” said Marion.

According to her, learning French is not difficult. “The best proof for that are freshmen who do not know French at the beginning of their studies, but after four years, they learn it quite well,” said Marion.

“I love my job and I love the city of Banja Luka as well because many of my fellow citizens are great hosts and they are always ready to help. Banja Luka is also beautiful, small enough for me to get to know the entire city and feel comfortable and big enough to have a great cultural life,” stated Marion, and added that she likes the fact that this city has a lot of greenery since running is her hobby.

She also believes that people in the RS nurture their cultural heritage and ethnic identity much better than people in France. She probably thinks that because her husband Ratko is a clarinettist who studies ethnomusicology. Marion also likes our national food, especially sour cream, pies and wines.

“France has around 400 types of cheeses, but they do not have anything like sour cream, and I also like all kinds of pies, both sweet and salty. I also tried several wines, and they are very beautiful, especially those from Herzegovina,” said Marion.

She is especially proud of her two sons who are attending kindergartens in Banja Luka.

Andrej Gajic is a 27-years old scientist working on fish pathology, anatomy and ecology – born in Jajce, SFR Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, he is PI of the Shark Tales project for the National Geographic Society and General Director of the Center for marine and freshwater biology Sharklab ADRIA - » read more